When Daddy's Away...

Today Sam flew out to NY to meet with the people who helped get him Maggie. So seeing that we had a weekend, the girls and I decided to make a quick TN trip to visit with my in-laws. Today is Dad Schultz's 55th birthday, and we wanted to surprise Mom Schultz.

So bright and early at 6am Sam and I were up getting ready. We opened the door to the girl's room and announced time to wake up to go see Mamaw and Papaw. Sarah sat up and announced she did not want to see anyone and then dove under her little pillow and tried her hardest to fall back to sleep.

...seriously, do not blame her...

...not many people I really want to see that early in the morning :).

We went to Chik-Fil-A for breakfast and enjoyed our morning together.
 Sarah walked in and said, "Kissit pweese", that translates to biscuit please :).

Soon we were off to the airport. Sam and Maggie were safely deposited and the girls and I hit the road. The long 4.5 hour drive.
I was determined to not stop, so I made sure both girls were fed and dry. The drive was nice, no traffic really and we cut about 30 minutes off our time.

We surprised Mom Schultz at the house, which was great. Then we had a dinner party that night for Trevor and Dad Schultz's birthday.
Sarah had been so excited to see Papaw on his "hirfday" that she had been singing "happy hirfday" from the moment we left to go to see them.
 Saturday morning we went to see the Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge. That day in history has always interested me. Going through the museum and seeing the artifacts pulled from the ocean floor and walking up a full scale of the grand staircase is always surreal to me. Me, with my very vivid imagination, could close my eyes and visualize myself in 1912...walking down the grand staircase; unbeknownst to me that the Titanic would sink within the first few days at sea. The only time I had such a surreal experience was when I went to the Flossenburg and Dachau concentration camps in Germany. It is just a heavy feeling that is hard to explain unless you are there yourself.
 Sarah also picked out her Titanic bear in the gift shop. I found out that there is a children's book about the Titanic bear that is based on a true story...

Since we had left for TN Sarah had been asking to ride a horse. Some moments the asking was to the point of tears.  So Papaw and Mamaw took her to ride on the carousel at the Island, Pigeon Forge. It was about 20degrees that night, but seriously felt like about 5. We bundled up everyone and took Sarah to ride. She laughed and giggled the first few go arounds, and then started shivering uncontrollably. So the next go around she rode in the carriage with me. While the carousel was going around she laughed and said, "This is UHHH-mazing!" After that she looked at me and said, "Mommy, horse pooped". I laughed and asked her, "It did?". She wrinkled her nose and said," Yes, it stinks". haha...my kid.

Sunday morning we went to Tim and Kristi Mitchell's church. This church they recently took over and is small in number, but not small in spirit. I was glad we could go and be a part of their service. Sunday afternoon was quiet, and the girls and I got ready to head back to get Sam. The girls slept most of the way home....and we were all glad to get home. We love seeing family, but nothing like your own bed...and blankets :)